San Diego saves 303 teacher jobs

Union says all 750 layoffs should have been rescinded

The San Diego school district will keep class sizes manageable for its youngest students and restore 303 teaching jobs that were eliminated last month, Superintendent Bill Kowba announced Friday.

Tapping extra education funds in the state budget, Kowba’s plan allows elementary schools to maintain 24-student classes through the third-grade — canceling plans to bump class size to 30. The initiative preserves even smaller classes at 29 high-poverty schools, where classes in the earliest grades are capped at 20.

Kowba said his plan comes with some financial risk. He warned that many of the teachers hired back to the classroom in the fall could face layoffs next year.

“We must all realize that this funding may be temporary,” Kowba said. “And the fact remains that our district still faces a huge deficit next year which means we may only be able to save these smaller class sizes and teaching jobs for this year only.”

The San Diego Unified School District laid off more than 750 teachers and 600 other employees — about 10 percent of its workforce — to offset a $114 million deficit to its $1.057 operating budget for the 2011-12 school year on June 28. The state budget adopted on June 30 provides the district $36 million in additional revenue.

Hiring back as many as 303 teachers will cost the district $22 million. The district will spend another $5 million of new revenue to cover unanticipated costs brought on by a reduction in state funds for in mental health services, transportation and child care. The remainder of the state windfall cannot be spent until later, Kowba said.

The district’s plan is risky since the state budget is based on optimistic tax revenue projections. If revenue falls short, schools could face midyear budget cuts.

Still, the faculty at Central Elementary School, a year-round campus in City Heights, celebrated the district’s news on Friday. The campus is among 29 that will maintain 20-student classes in kindergarten through third grade.

“The district figured out a way in a huge budget crisis to do what’s right — and this was not easy,” said Principal Cindy Marten, who has attended every school board meeting to advocate for her school since pink slips were issued March 15. “We are telling the story of what works, and they are listening.”

The district is canceling layoffs under a contingency plan adopted by the school board June 21. The board pledged to spend extra state money to protect class size and save teaching jobs — regardless of financial advice that might recommend using the funds to offset future deficits.

“This is huge,” said trustee Kevin Beiser. “This is great news, not only for teachers and parents, but it is really good news for the students.”

The district will now start the complicated process of canceling teacher layoffs. Because of seniority-based hiring and firing rules in the district’s union contract, teachers who were laid off may be assigned to different classrooms and schools.

Bill Freeman, who represents the district’s 7,000 teachers as president of the San Diego Education Association, was somewhat skeptical.

“I’m glad to hear they are bringing these laid-off teachers back. But this is not good enough because all of the laid off teachers deserve to come back,” Freeman said. “It just seems like every time the district gets more revenue, suddenly the deficit grows.”

The district has projected a $70 million deficit for the 2012-13 school year. Had the district saved the $36 million, instead of spending it, and kept its layoffs in effect, the estimated shortfall for 2012-13 would have fallen to $18 million.